Daily life in Early Stuart
England was set in the context of Christian belief and practice. The parish
priest was the main link between the largely illiterate population and
the technical and educated world.

The church taught subordination,
norms of conduct, and patriotism. It was the major source of demographic
statistics for each shire.

The Thirty-nine Articles
of Faith (passed by Convocation in 1563) that defined the Anglican creed
were deliberately ambiguous in order to encompass as many shades of belief
as possible.

Even after the Protestant
Reformation, the Church of England kept the Catholic ministry of bishops,
priests, and deacons, and Catholic territorial divisions of two provinces
(Canterbury and York) comprised of dioceses and parishes. Anglican
belief was a blend of Lutheranism and Calvinism.

There was a constant tension
between the aims of uniformity and comprehension: Millenary Petition
of 1603 June 1604 Apology Canons of 1604 1610 Commons Petition
on Religion Commons Protestation
of 1621

James was bothered more by
the politics than the theology of the “Puritans.” Although he himself
was a Calvinist, he felt less threatened by the Catholics. Unfortunately,
most English perceived Roman Catholics as the more dangerous since the
Pope claimed the power to excommunicate and depose Christian monarchs (and
had indeed excommunicated both Henry VIII and Elizabeth I).

The Gunpowder Plot of 1605,
although it led to stiffer penal laws, did not wipe out Catholicism as
a religion. If Catholics took an Oath of Allegiance renouncing the deposing
power of the Pope, they could practice their religion.